Love That Album podcast episode 162 - Pete Townshend "White City: A Novel"

The 1980s have often been derided musically. The truth is there was interesting stuff happening that we've conveniently forgotten. An interesting question is how the 80s treated musicians considered important in the 60s. How did they adapt with the technology and change in direction for songwriting? Once again, there are some who handled it better than others. Dylan started and finished the decade well, but.....what happened in between?

For the purposes of this conversation, we're going to focus on Pete Townshend.

Welcome to episode 162 of Love That Album podcast.

At the start of the eighties, Townshend created a couple of great records, but still with the shadow of The Who behind him. By 1985, The Who had split, so he could create a record that could reflect where his interests lay without having to worry about whether it sounded right for the 80s version of The Who – a different sounding band to what they had previously been. It could be argued that the 80s treated him well – certainly his solo albums are subjectively more interesting than the two studio Who albums of that period.

One thing Townshend followed on through his Who days was a love of telling long form stories. In 1985, he released White City: A Novel both in record and home video form. On this episode of Love That Album, I am joined by co host of Stinking Pause podcast Charlie Mahoney to talk about the music on the album, and whether the film Pete wrote and Richard Lowenstein directed was successful. In the mid eighties when the world was focused on apartheid South Africa, Townshend thought he'd use his story of a separated couple living in a council estate as a metaphor for for what was going on. Does it work?

My gratitude to Charlie for being my first co host following a hiatus of a few months. He brought great conversation to the show, and hopefully, it won't be another 7 years before he returns. You can catch Charlie, Scott and Paul discussing vintage cinema at https://stinkingpause.libsyn.com/

If you want to watch the film, it's available at https://vimeo.com/520512254

Download this episode of LTA from your podcast app of choice. The wider back catalogue of episodes can also be found at http://lovethatalbumpodcast.blogspot.com

Love That Album is proudly part of the Pantheon Podcast network. Go to http://pantheonpodcasts.com to check out all their great shows.

You can send me feedback at [email protected] (written or mp3 voicemail) or join the Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/lovethatalbum

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